“I had a heart attack, a rare type, SCAD, no damage. I want to be normal again so I’m struggling with the notion that this was serious and I will need to recover. And it just was really weird to go through this at 51 as a perfectly healthy person.” Judi H.

I will add to that the good news that Judi is already scheduled to go home later today (Friday) to get on with that recovery. Judi, you and your family are in our minds and hearts as you take on that challenge.

When an event like this happens, I sometimes feel like our exploration of ideas and beliefs can be a bit self-indulgent. And of course that is possible. However, I also know how important our beliefs can be, not least of all when we’re under duress or dealing with the unexpected. And honestly, if you don’t feel like you’ve had to deal with the unexpected lately, I suspect you may be reading this email from inside a bubble that doesn’t include the rest of the world. So sifting and sorting what we believe remains important work, even (perhaps especially) in the midst of upheaval of all sorts.

This Sunday morning the Talky Bit will be an exploration of some of the ways “My Story is Better than Your Story” can unfold into the sorts of problems we see in the spotlight on a daily basis – entitlement, racism, supremacist thinking, the diminishment of other people’s cultures and beliefs, and so on. I don’t expect to have any magic solutions on offer, but I hope I can suggest some things that might help us reflect in a fresh way on both those issues (step one in almost any better path forward), and on how we might choose to live in a way that can reduce or even undo the problem.

We’ll (sorta) gather online at 10:45 a.m here for some music (shout out to Tim and Jane for filling in for Judi at the last moment!) and Community Time, followed by the Talky Bit.

I’ll see you on Sunday.

Peace,

Tim Plett